Best Posts in Thread: Stupid is as stupid does

This is not the experiences I have had at Lantaw over many visits there; it is a restaurant I can very highly recommend. Generally all the orders come at once or very close to each other - they tell us at the time of ordering if there is a delay on an item due to preparation time.

I think many issues about poor service in establishments must be down to poor training. Often on this forum I have made comments about educational standards and that is a factor but job training should take account of that - it is about taking someone from the point they are at when they arrive up to the point you want them to be. I heard that BPO recruits undergo 6 months training before (I assume) they are put in their service roles - if you have ever spoken with a Philippine-based call centre you will know they are very good.

I am not certain about 'common sense' being an 'or' to "lack of intelligence" - it does not require specialised knowledge but it must be a result of some form of education (at home, online, at school, on the streets) and all education requires intelligence.

 

Oh right.. because these things never happen in the States..

 

Many things that foreigners do are regarded as strange or amusing by filipinos.

 

I think this is an important point. Dumaguete is a regional town so the salesperson (even local manager) has absolutely no authority to deviate from a set position. My partner was previously in charge of 14 staff selling a certain brand at Lee Plaza - she was not employed by LP but by the brand itself. Whilst transacting, she had no leeway to authorise any form of discount or extra in the sale and on the multiple times she contacted her area manager she was not provided any form of authority to sweeten the deal. So she simply stopped asking yet she would get instructions from that same area manager about allowing a discount when the customer had contacted the head office (in Manila) or even the area manager (in Cebu).

The Stupid is as Stupid does... applies to the top management for not trusting their local managers to make decisions based on what they saw in front of them. My personal experience is that staff members performed far better when they were empowered. Sure there were a few thieves and idiots that I employed and suffered the consequences of my poor judgement but they were weeded out quickly, the staff that remained became brilliant salespeople that were the core of a successful business where each felt respected and appreciated - many are now life long friends.

 

The constitution goes on to say:
Section 7. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English.

 

That is not true. Only those who go to school know english. Go into any poor province and you will see most dont speak english and if they do it is not very good.

 

Why would they do that? English is an official language here. Most of the road signs are in English. The campus at Foundation Elementary has signs asking the student to speak in English. I would bet that most of the locals can speak better English than they can speak Tagalog (I know this to be true of those I have been close with but I can't be sure about the majority in the city.)